Some Indio parents concerned about school safety in the wake of recent high-profile shootings across the nation have gotten local officials to do something about it. And this something is a smart, measured response that could do some real good.

Some 236 people signed a petition asking Desert Sands Unified School District to make Roosevelt Elementary School classrooms more secure. Administrators have agreed and will be installing security doors at the campus.

As discussed in Desert Sun Education Reporter Joseph Hong’s story earlier this month, Roosevelt Elementary was built in the late 1960s with an open-air design. Classrooms don’t have doors and flow into a central, circular corridor.

The modernist design allows students to look into the other classrooms, and the only way in and out of them is through the main corridor; there are no back doors from the rooms.

"In light of recent national incidents of school violence we are making changes to Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School," district spokesperson Mary Perry told Hong. "Designed in 1968 the original architectural design called for a more open concept not in keeping with today's requirements for more secure schools."

The district has decided to outfit the classrooms with locking doors within the next year. This is a smart move that could help protect kids if an intruder were to enter.

It’s good to see this process of parent input and administration response play out quickly and sensibly. This move is a concrete step to protect children. Other Coachella Valley campuses might benefit from similar security assessments and facilities updates.

The Roosevelt upgrade contrasts with other moves across the country. In central Florida, people are being trained under a law passed following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre to serve as armed school safety guardians. They’ll be paid $30,000 per year to protect children and staff at schools, potentially having to use deadly force against a perpetrator during a school attack.

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In response to a Florida high school shooting that killed 17 people, students across the Coachella Valley protested gun violence for National Walkout Day. (Images: Jay Calderon, clip: Joe Hong)
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Introducing firearms to campuses as a counter to the gun rampages we’ve seen is about as controversial and polarizing as are calls for the banning of various types of guns. Critics, including the American Medical Association in a new call this week, say reducing the numbers of guns is the only way to cut associated violence -- which includes everything from high-profile, but statistically rare, mass shootings to much more common suicides and situations such as domestic violence.

Sadly, neither gun bans that could prove extremely difficult to enforce nor more armed school personnel likely would eliminate the scourge of gun violence in our heavily armed society, even if somehow adopted.

California has among the toughest gun laws in the nation now and Golden State residents expect that they will be rigorously enforced. In that environment, additional tweaks like making sure our schools are equipped to provide safe refuge in case the worst still happens is the smartest thing we can do.